Linkbar

French Word A Week: Pomme de terre

May 7, 2010

Start with good potatoes.

I don't know if you have noticed but I am not very good with routine. Monotony. Habits. I have my moments with continuity, stillness and straight lines. But as soon as Spring comes around, whoop-de-doo, I am like a butterfly. Especially when it comes to carbs as I found out while conversing with friends about our favorite carbohydrate.

I started with "Potatoes for sure!" only to recall a sudden love affair between my fork and a bowl of stir fried rice the week before. And let's not forget the month I fixed myself a plate of spaghetti, sprinkle of basil, parmesan and olive oil everyday for lunch. Well, and beans. More so if they are surrounded with cassoulet. But deep down? I am a potato girl.

Wash them well and place in roasting pan.

So, you guessed it, the French Word A Week is "Potato" = Pomme de terre (click on word to hear the pronunciation).

I'm not "potatoes any way all day" though. Short of being able to cook them in the ashes of a good fire like we used to do back home, I'd rather have mine roasted than mashed. Come Spring and Summer and one of my favorite side dishes to make and eat is a simple bowl of warm roasted potatoes.

Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Every week at the farmers market, I load up on the tiniest white, red and purple potatoes I can find, wash them well, spread them out in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and voila! A light accompaniment to a nice steak on the grill or a weeknight omelette. Add some chopped oregano, thyme or basil and you can pair this with almost anything you like.

Roast at 375F until the potatoes are cooked through.

If you are planning a brunch or a picnic for Mother's Day this weekend this salad would be particularly great to bring along. It requires very little actual making time, roasts itself up in 30 minutes and keeps well for hours at room temperature.

If you need more picnic ideas as the warm days roll in, you can find more options in this article I styled and photographed for Charleston Magazine. The print version with the full length article with more pictures and recipes will be available on news stands this week I hear. No one on the staff asked me to promote them but I do love when they hire me(obviously!) and I love that we have such high quality prints, artisans and creative minds here in town. Makes me proud. Thank you for indulging me.

I was recently given some Purple Congo potatoes and they are so beautiful! It's fantastic to see you using them too. They are absolutely stunning when roasted, that colour is magical! Lovely photos, as always!!

Lovely. We picked up the habit of roasting pomme de terre when vacationing in Provence (is that where you are from?. Of course it tastes best with grilled lamb, seasoned with wild thyme from the garden, but we tried it at home and it still tastes fantastic!Thanks for reminding me. I'll try to find small blue potatoes at the market today....Ps I guess TS Tannie is trying to say that the blue potatoes are human made, but they are not, are they?

Not just a beautiful and simple dish but a French lesson to boot! I love this dish; although no where near as charming, my local Costco now often has a mix of the multi color baby potatoes and this is my go to dish.

But enough about potatoes. It's the French lesson I love. I have five years of French inside my brain somewhere but from such a long time ago, most is forgotten. I've loved having your articles bring those words back to life and be able to recall something other than 'Open the Door' and 'Shut the Window' and a few phrases I won't repeat here. Thank you...this is something fun I look forward to each week.

These potatoes look beautiful. The colours are gorgeous. Recently as I've been running more I have ben craving carbs, rice, pasta but not potatoes as such. However, looking at these I really want some simple roast new potatoes with a knob of butter, heaven! Also, you are so talented. I would love to do your job!

My mouth is watering as I type...your photos are rustic, elegant, and delicious!....you'll have to excuse me as I'm running off to buy some tri-color potatoes and perhaps even have them for my breakfast!! :)

Congrats on your photos in Charleston Magazine! We actually subscribe to that one here, so I'll look forward to seeing your photos in print. Your style is so clean and bright, what a perfect match for the topic!

Jenny: if you keep them look for a feature in the December 2009 issue and there will be another one in the June issue. Sometimes one's style has to obey demands of the art direction and not one's own though :)

Lyrically speaking: Ah yes...everything in moderation :)

TSannie: the purple is all natural and not a dye. They are called Peruvian potatoes also.

Those potatoes are so beautiful with their different colours. We only get the basic white and red here - not exciting at all. Roasted potatoes are probably my second favourite carb dish ... mashed potato would be number one. Yes, I'm a potato fanatic. :)

What a lovely assortment of potatoes. Multicolored! A little olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dried oregano and a couple cloves of garlic. That's the Greek way of making the best baked potatoes, or pomme de terre :)Magda

A simple & perfect potato salad. I can't get over how eye catching the purple potatoes are. They add so much to the beauty of this dish.Charleston is such a vibrant community, you are so lucky to be a part of it! xo

I tried this salad last night with a few of my own twists. I used Yukon gold potatoes cut into cubes, rosted with garlic and olive oil at 450 for 60 minutes, then sauted mushrooms/onions to go along side it dressed in a dijon mustard, tarragon, rice vinegarette. Delish. Thanks for the inspiration!

Omg your purple potatoes are stunning ! And I'm a potato girl too lol : in France it's the season of the delicious Pommes de terre de Noirmoutier <3 And your article has made me think of the joy I have had the other day to eat such food ! Merci : simplement délicieux !

Your pictures were amazing! Love the pan you used. You inspired me to make a warm potato salad today! I roasted the potatoes, then added in some diced up red peppers, green onions and hard boiled egg. Then, I finished it off by mixing in a bit of creme fraiche and prosciutto. I will be posting the recipe soon on my blog, so check it out when you have a moment!